Sucker-rod joint



Dec. 9, 1924- 1,518,960 I E. H. BOWSER SUCKER ROD JOINT Filed March 20, 1924 gnuentoz Patented Dec. 9, 1924.

uurrao STATES 1,518,960 PATENT OFFICE.

ESTELLA HARRIET! nowsnrt or EL noaano, ARKANSAS.

STICKER-ROD JOINT.

Application med March 20, 1924. Serial no. 700,599.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ESTELLA HAnRm'rr BOWSER, a citizen of the United-States, residing at El Dorado, in the county of Union and btate of Arkansas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Sucker-Rod Joints, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to rod joints and more particularly to the joints of the socalled sucker rods of oil wells.

As the well is drilled, lengths of pipe two or more inches in internal diameter are lowered into the well, these pipes being screwed together, the pipe often reaching a length of several hundred feet. Within devised for this purpose are guides carrythis pipe the sucker rod reciprocates.

' Because of the great length of these well pipes and because of difference in geological strata through which the pipes pass, these pipes are seldom perfectly straight and as a result there is a great deal of friction between the internal bore of the pipe and the sucker rods. This friction tends to rapidly wear out the pipe and also the' rods, and especially to wear out and break the latter at the joints, these joints in order to obtain a rod of uniform strength being commonly enlarged at the joint, and it is at these enlargements that the greatest wear upon the rods takes lace. The breaking of a sucker rod joint uring use in the well is a serious matter not only because of the loss of material but because in order to remove and repair the rod it is frequentlg necessary to resort toa fishing job whic sometimes halts all other work at the well for many hours.

Sucker rods as commonly used in oil wells are a standard article of manufacture, and usually consist of a relatively long, cylindrical shank, which is enlarged and usually squared (for a wrench grip) at each extremity. Within the enlarged portion at one end is an internally screw-threaded socket, and extending beyond the enlarged Amon the attachments which have been to reduce the friction.

ing anti-friction rollers or balls to form bearings for the rod upon the surface of the pipe. The guides While reducing the friction and preventing wear upon the rod joints are relatively complicated and ex ensive pieces of mechanism, easily injure in the rough usage to which they are subjected and, when so injured, diflicult to repair with the facilities available at most oil this coupling section usually being of greater. diameter than the rod, and often carrying projecting anti-friction devices or material These merely substitute wear on the coupling member for wear upon the rod and as their use, doubles the number of joints it doubles the labor. of coupling and uncoupling the rods.

Another attachment which has been devised for preventing Wear at the joint is a collar which-is placed around the projecting screw-threaded end of one rod and, when the socket end of the next rod is screwed thereto, is gripped between the enlarged portions of the rod. This construction has the disadvantage that in order to accommodate the height of the collar, the threaded projection at one end of the rod must be made unusually long, necessitating the use of a special rod, or if a standard rod is used, preventing sufiicient engagement of the threaded projection of one rod with the threaded socket of the next, to make a secure joint. Furthermore, because with this construction the enlarged ends of the rod can not be fitted tightly together with the result that water is likely to enter the thread grooves and rust the threads together making disassembling extremely difficult.

So far as I am aware, none of the attachments has come into any considerable use in oil well work, due no dobut to the objectionable features mentioned.

An object of my invention, therefore, is to provide anattachment for sucker rods which will not have these objectionable features.

Another object of my invention is to procreased by the use of the attachment.

' while this embodiment I believe to A further object of my invention 'is to provide an attachment of relatively soft, malleable metal, which willnot score and consequently wear the pipe in which the rod operates.

A further object of my invention is to provide such an attachment with radial ribsto receive the wear caused by friction against the pipe, and-by their obliteration due to wear, to give an easily recognizedindication that such attachment should be replaced. a

A further object of my invention is to provide such an attachment as can be easily produced by a simple casting and boring o eration in which a large proportion of t e cost of the device is in the material used and not in the labor required to produce it, and of material easily re-worked so that there will be no loss of material other than that which is actually worn away by friction.-

- A further object'of my invention is to,

provide such an attachment of relatively soft materialrwith a part ada ted to be interposed between the enlarge portions of therod and slightly compressed, whereby a liquid tight joint is formed which will protectt the threaded portions of the joint from me An embodiment of my invention is illustrated in the accompaanying drawin and best which I have so far devised, it is to be understood that other and different embodiments may be made within the scope of the annexed claims withoutdeparting from the spirit of my invention.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is an elevation of the device within a pi Figure 2 1s a section on line 2-2 of Fig. ,1.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

1 is the lower end of a sucker rod.

2 is the upper end of a similar rod.

3 is a collar for the rod joint.

The rod 1 is preferably provided at its lower end with a cylindrical shank 4, an enlarged squared section 5, a cylindrical flange 6 forming a shoulder7, aprojection 8, said projection having a screw thread 9.

ing the rods is not substantially inthe nuaaeo The rod 2-is preferably provided'at its upper end with a cylindrical shank 10, an enlarged, squared section 11, a cylindrical flange 12 formingashoulder 13, a socket 14 within the rod, said socket provided with an internal thread 15 adapted to co-operate with the thread 9 of the rod 1.

These rods are usually made of steel or iron and as so far described are the usual standard sucker rods used in oil wells.

The collar 3 is preferably made of malleable metal such as hard babbitt, soft \brass or 00 per, although other materials having t e general (properties of these metals as to-softness an plasticity may be used if desired The collar 3 has a cylindrical wall 16 of a height plreferably suificient to extend from about t e'upper part of flange 6 to. the lower part of the flange 12 when the rods are screwed tightly together.

Upon the outer surfaceof the wall 16 are longitudinal, radial ribs 17, four bein shown, these ribs having side walls 18 an 19, .and an end wall 20, the latter relatively broad and slightly rounded and adapted to form the bearing surface of the collar against the pipe 21 in which the sucker 'rod reci rocates. The ends of the ribs 17 are pre erably rounded ofl as at 22 and .23 to ermit the ribs to ride over rough places an joints in the pipe.

Extending around the interior wall 24 of the collar? and preferablyclose to the upper edgethereof, is an internal flange 25 closing the interior of the collar. The flange 25 is provided 'withan interior bore- 26 of a diameter sli htly smaller than the reatest diameter '0? the rojection 8 of t erod 1. The bore 26 as an internal thread 27 adapted to co-operate with the thread 9 of the pro'ection 8, whereby the collar can be screwe on to and retained by said projection 8.

The device is used as vfollows:

The collar 3 is screwed on to the threadof the rod 1.

The rod '2 is lowered into the pipe of the well and the threaded projection 8 screwed uared portions 5.

into the socket 14, the and 11 vof the rods afiordmg wrench gri s to screw the rods tightly together. e force exerted in screwlng the rods to ether is suflicient to slightly compress the ange 25, any rough or uneven places u on the shoulders of the rodsdigging into-t e relatively soft metal of the ange, the flange to act as a washer to exclude waterfrom the threaded portions of the rods and prevent the rods rustingtogether. The

flange 25 also acts as a lock washerto prevent the rod sections turning and becoming accidentally unscrewed from each other. The. flange 25 may be made relatively thin thus causing as the collar 3 -fits snugly over the flanges 6 strain is ordinarily slight.

will besheared oil before a sufiicient strain ing the old collar by a new one.

is put upon the rods to buckle or break them. r

The collar may be packed with grease or other water repellant if desired, but because the collar below the flange 25 forms a bell which will trap air, water will be excluded and prevented from reaching the threads of the rods.

Friction against the inner wall of the pipe gradually wears away the ribs 17 of the collar and, when a rib has become worn down tothe general level of the outer surface of the collar, it gives a clear indication to the workman in charge that the collar should be renewed. Renewing is accomlished by unscrewing the rods and replac- The worn out collars are preserved and, when a suflicient quantity have collected, they are melted down and recast. As the collars may be produced by a simple casting and boring operation, the labor cost of makingtheln is relatively slight as compared with the value of the materialand as the only loss of material is that actually worn away by friction, and the remaining material 1. A coupling for sucker rods and the like,

comprising two engaging screw-threaded members,'a collar enclosing the extrem1t1es of said members, and an internal flange upon said collar, having an inner thread to cooperate with the thread upon one of said members.

2. A coupling for sucker rods and the like,

comprising a member with a shoulder and an external screw thread upon said member, projecting beyond said shoulder, a second member and an internal screw-threaded socket within said member adapted to cooperate with the screw thread of the first member, a collar enclosing the extremities of said members, and an internal flange upon said collar, having an inner thread to co-operate with the thread upon said first member.

3. As an. article of manufacture, a collar :for sucker rod joints and the like, comprising a hollow, cylindrical collar, said collar provided with radial, longitudinal ribs, and an internal flange within said collar, said flange provided with a central screw-threaded bore.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature. .ESTELLA HARRIETT BOWSER. 

